Deveron Projects

Senzeni Marasela

Thinking of Sarah and other Women, 2009

Family Centre, Deveron Rd

Oil pastels and collage

To commemorate and critically reflect upon the 50th birthday of plastic doll and icon Barbie, black South African artist Senzeni held an ‘amnesty’ and museum of Huntly Barbie dolls as part of an exhibition in an empty shop on Bogie Street. Senzeni looked at women’s struggle with their own self-image, and how our globalised culture presents a single image of female identity, ignoring personal and cultural histories.

The exhibition included eight drawings depicting objects and commodities associated with female iconography (lipsticks, hairsprays, etc) presented to onlookers like a Victorian ‘freakshow’.